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Sharon says Arafat will not be buried in Jerusalem
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has announced that Yasser Arafat would not be buried in Jerusalem.
“As long as I am here, and I have no intention of retiring any time soon, he will not be buried in Jerusalem”, the prime minister said during this morning’s Cabinet session.
“As long as I am here, and I have no intention of retiring any time soon, he will not be buried in Jerusalem”, the prime minister said during this morning’s Cabinet session.
http://www.maarivintl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=11472
Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Sunday he would block any request by Palestinian officials to bury Yasser Arafat in Jerusalem, raising the spectre of mass unrest after the iconic leader's death.
With no official diagnosis on the 75-year-old's mysterious blood disease expected until Wednesday, Sharon told his cabinet that he would never allow the Palestinian leader to be laid to rest in the holy city, official sources said.
"As long as I am in power, and I have no intention of leaving, he (Arafat) will not be buried in Jerusalem," public radio quoted him as telling the weekly meeting, in response to a question by justice minister Joseph Lapid.
On Friday, the ageing Palestinian leader was dramatically air-lifted out of his West Bank base in Ramallah for urgent treatment in France after suffering rapid weight loss and vomiting while dropping in and out of consciousness.
In the past, Arafat has said that he would like to be buried in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City that is considered the third-holiest site for the world's Muslims, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1613587,00.html
Reacting to a proposal by Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz, according to which Israel would not allow Arafat to return to Ramallah in the event his health improved, Sharon said that "Israel has made a commitment to allow Arafat to return to the territories." Sharon added, however that "so long as I am prime minister, Arafat will not be buried in Jerusalem."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/495473.html
However, even the humiliation is now deeper than ever. The carnival preceding his death is yet another step in the de-humanization of all Palestinians. Would we dare speak about the burial place of another leader before he had died? And by what right do we allow ourselves to decide not only where he will live, but also where he will die? Or to announce that he was worthy of a crueler death, as MK Aryeh Eldad said? A diabolical doctor who is entrusted with the sanctity of human life, but pronounces "good riddance" at the death of a person.
Why did Israel apparently not offer medical treatment, at least? A shame, considering that Israel is responsible for the welfare of residents under occupation, according to the Geneva convention.
Israel accuses Arafat of having blood on his hands, but is there any less blood on the hands of own its leaders, who have led a campaign these past years where hundreds of women and children were killed? Arafat chose the path of terror, when no other military option was open to him, and when the chances of reaching a just settlement with Israel, without bloodshed, were nil. The terror, it must be honestly said, put the fact of occupation on the agenda, exactly like the liberation struggles of other peoples.
We should have talked and talked with Arafat, and not given up at any point, especially when he crossed the Rubicon by recognizing the State of Israel, a step that we never properly appreciated. His humiliation was the humiliation of his entire people, which never accomplished any positive results.
As a founding father, he could permit himself to be more moderate than his successors will dare to. When Zakariya Zubeidi, the commander of the Al-Aqsa Brigades in Jenin, who despises most of the officials in the Palestinian authority, speaks of Arafat, his tone softens. He would never speak out against the founding father, come what may. Zubeidi and those like him will never let any other Palestinian official reach a compromise with Israel.
Despite all his mistakes, which were not few, Israel did not exhaust all chances of reaching an agreement with him. He did not orchestrate the intifada, that much is clear today, and Ehud Barak did not turn over every stone in order to reach a peace agreement.
Those who succeed him will be far worse from Israel's point of view. If Arafat had some respect, possibly even admiration, for Israel's power and achievements, and if the next generation, Marwan Barghouti, knew Israelis up close and developed an ambivalent attitude, trying to talk peace, then disillusioned, turning to violence, the next generation of young Palestinians is lost to peace.
The youngsters in the Palestinian refugee camps never met an unarmed Israeli, one who didn't harass and abuse them. No compromise will be found there. Yasser Arafat fought for an eminently just cause - liberation from the yoke of a cruel occupation, even if the means he used were not always moral or just. But his death will not bequeath life to us.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/495462.html
Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Sunday he would block any request by Palestinian officials to bury Yasser Arafat in Jerusalem, raising the spectre of mass unrest after the iconic leader's death.
With no official diagnosis on the 75-year-old's mysterious blood disease expected until Wednesday, Sharon told his cabinet that he would never allow the Palestinian leader to be laid to rest in the holy city, official sources said.
"As long as I am in power, and I have no intention of leaving, he (Arafat) will not be buried in Jerusalem," public radio quoted him as telling the weekly meeting, in response to a question by justice minister Joseph Lapid.
On Friday, the ageing Palestinian leader was dramatically air-lifted out of his West Bank base in Ramallah for urgent treatment in France after suffering rapid weight loss and vomiting while dropping in and out of consciousness.
In the past, Arafat has said that he would like to be buried in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City that is considered the third-holiest site for the world's Muslims, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1613587,00.html
Reacting to a proposal by Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz, according to which Israel would not allow Arafat to return to Ramallah in the event his health improved, Sharon said that "Israel has made a commitment to allow Arafat to return to the territories." Sharon added, however that "so long as I am prime minister, Arafat will not be buried in Jerusalem."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/495473.html
However, even the humiliation is now deeper than ever. The carnival preceding his death is yet another step in the de-humanization of all Palestinians. Would we dare speak about the burial place of another leader before he had died? And by what right do we allow ourselves to decide not only where he will live, but also where he will die? Or to announce that he was worthy of a crueler death, as MK Aryeh Eldad said? A diabolical doctor who is entrusted with the sanctity of human life, but pronounces "good riddance" at the death of a person.
Why did Israel apparently not offer medical treatment, at least? A shame, considering that Israel is responsible for the welfare of residents under occupation, according to the Geneva convention.
Israel accuses Arafat of having blood on his hands, but is there any less blood on the hands of own its leaders, who have led a campaign these past years where hundreds of women and children were killed? Arafat chose the path of terror, when no other military option was open to him, and when the chances of reaching a just settlement with Israel, without bloodshed, were nil. The terror, it must be honestly said, put the fact of occupation on the agenda, exactly like the liberation struggles of other peoples.
We should have talked and talked with Arafat, and not given up at any point, especially when he crossed the Rubicon by recognizing the State of Israel, a step that we never properly appreciated. His humiliation was the humiliation of his entire people, which never accomplished any positive results.
As a founding father, he could permit himself to be more moderate than his successors will dare to. When Zakariya Zubeidi, the commander of the Al-Aqsa Brigades in Jenin, who despises most of the officials in the Palestinian authority, speaks of Arafat, his tone softens. He would never speak out against the founding father, come what may. Zubeidi and those like him will never let any other Palestinian official reach a compromise with Israel.
Despite all his mistakes, which were not few, Israel did not exhaust all chances of reaching an agreement with him. He did not orchestrate the intifada, that much is clear today, and Ehud Barak did not turn over every stone in order to reach a peace agreement.
Those who succeed him will be far worse from Israel's point of view. If Arafat had some respect, possibly even admiration, for Israel's power and achievements, and if the next generation, Marwan Barghouti, knew Israelis up close and developed an ambivalent attitude, trying to talk peace, then disillusioned, turning to violence, the next generation of young Palestinians is lost to peace.
The youngsters in the Palestinian refugee camps never met an unarmed Israeli, one who didn't harass and abuse them. No compromise will be found there. Yasser Arafat fought for an eminently just cause - liberation from the yoke of a cruel occupation, even if the means he used were not always moral or just. But his death will not bequeath life to us.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/495462.html
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ERUSALEM (AP) - Israel will permit Yasser Arafat to be laid to rest in the Gaza Strip when he dies, but will keep the Palestinian leader out of Jerusalem, a city "where Jewish kings are buried and not Arab terrorists," an Israeli cabinet minister said Friday.
Palestinian officials refused to begin planning for Arafat's funeral or co-ordinate with Israel on the movement of attending foreign dignitaries as long as his condition remained unclear, officials said. A top Palestinian official said Arafat was in a coma "between life and death," but denied Israeli media reports he was on life support.
It is not clear whether Arafat has prepared a will. However, he has told aides privately in recent years that he would like to be buried near Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest shrine.
The top Muslim cleric in Jerusalem, Mufti Ikrema Sabri, said Friday that "President Arafat, may he be healthy, willed to be buried in Jerusalem and from a religious perspective, we must and need to honour his will."
More
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/041105/w110542.html
Palestinian officials refused to begin planning for Arafat's funeral or co-ordinate with Israel on the movement of attending foreign dignitaries as long as his condition remained unclear, officials said. A top Palestinian official said Arafat was in a coma "between life and death," but denied Israeli media reports he was on life support.
It is not clear whether Arafat has prepared a will. However, he has told aides privately in recent years that he would like to be buried near Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest shrine.
The top Muslim cleric in Jerusalem, Mufti Ikrema Sabri, said Friday that "President Arafat, may he be healthy, willed to be buried in Jerusalem and from a religious perspective, we must and need to honour his will."
More
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/041105/w110542.html
srael is prepared for a variety of scenarios following Yasser Arafat's demise including the possibility that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians will march their leader's body to the Temple Mount for burial, senior police
officers said Thursday night.
The officers downplayed warnings by Palestinian officials who said that if Israel refuses to allow Arafat to be buried on the compound, Palestinians will carry his body from Ramallah to Jerusalem to forcibly bury him there.
"This is not a question that is up to the Israelis and Sharon to decide," Wakf director Adnan Husseini, in charge of the holy Muslim sites on the Temple Mount, told The Jerusalem Post Thursday. "Israel should not be involved in the decision since if they are then Palestinians may decide to do the opposite and bring his body en mass to Jerusalem for burial."
"The question of where Arafat will be buried is up to the Palestinian people and it is a question of Islamic law," he added. "Israel needs to remember that Jerusalem is not an Israeli city but it is a Palestinian city and we decide what happens here."
Police rejected the threats confirming that they are prepared for all possible scenarios.
"We are prepared for all different kinds of scenarios that may happen following Arafat's death including an attempt to carry his body to Jerusalem for burial," said one senior officer, involved in planning for the day-after Arafat.
On Sunday, Sharon told the cabinet that under his watch Arafat will not be allowed to be buried in Jerusalem. Media reports Thursday night indicated
that Israel, if asked by the Palestinians, will only allow for Arafat's burial in the Gaza Strip.
In July, an official defense establishment report was leaked to the press detailing Israeli reactions to Arafat's death. One of the issues dealt with in the report was his desire to be buried on the Temple Mount. The report
recommended burying Arafat in the Palestinian town of Abu Dis overlooking the holy disputed site, in order to avoid confrontations with Palestinian masses.
The last Palestinian to be buried on the Temple Mount was Faisal Husseini, the former PLO representative in Jerusalem, who died of a heart attack in 2001. Husseini was buried at the site despite fierce opposition from some Palestinians, who said the privilege should be reserved only to devout Muslim figures. Police noted however that in Husseni's case, Palestinians received official permission to hold the funeral on the compound.
Meanwhile Thursday, police raised the level of alert following reports that Arafat may have died. Police also pulled out their day-after plan, called "A different reality," which lays out the different scenarios that may happen
after Arafat's demise. Once there is an official statement that Arafat is dead, police said, they will raise the alert to level three of four.
Hearing of the sharp deterioration in Arafat's condition, head of the Prisons Service Yaakov Ganot ordered to beef up security and raise the alert in prisons throughout the country.
Ganot instructed intelligence officers to carefully monitor the some 4,000 Palestinian security prisoners incarcerated in Israel and in the event of Arafat's death to allow them to mourn the Palestinian leader.
In March, Arafat had asked his supporters to look into burying him on the Mount. At the time, Muslim groups distributed leaflets against Arafat's plan. Referring to Arafat, the leaflet said: "We warn this wicked infidel, who married a Christian infidel, against contemplating desecrating the holy Aksa Mosque."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1099543822437&p=1006688055060
officers said Thursday night.
The officers downplayed warnings by Palestinian officials who said that if Israel refuses to allow Arafat to be buried on the compound, Palestinians will carry his body from Ramallah to Jerusalem to forcibly bury him there.
"This is not a question that is up to the Israelis and Sharon to decide," Wakf director Adnan Husseini, in charge of the holy Muslim sites on the Temple Mount, told The Jerusalem Post Thursday. "Israel should not be involved in the decision since if they are then Palestinians may decide to do the opposite and bring his body en mass to Jerusalem for burial."
"The question of where Arafat will be buried is up to the Palestinian people and it is a question of Islamic law," he added. "Israel needs to remember that Jerusalem is not an Israeli city but it is a Palestinian city and we decide what happens here."
Police rejected the threats confirming that they are prepared for all possible scenarios.
"We are prepared for all different kinds of scenarios that may happen following Arafat's death including an attempt to carry his body to Jerusalem for burial," said one senior officer, involved in planning for the day-after Arafat.
On Sunday, Sharon told the cabinet that under his watch Arafat will not be allowed to be buried in Jerusalem. Media reports Thursday night indicated
that Israel, if asked by the Palestinians, will only allow for Arafat's burial in the Gaza Strip.
In July, an official defense establishment report was leaked to the press detailing Israeli reactions to Arafat's death. One of the issues dealt with in the report was his desire to be buried on the Temple Mount. The report
recommended burying Arafat in the Palestinian town of Abu Dis overlooking the holy disputed site, in order to avoid confrontations with Palestinian masses.
The last Palestinian to be buried on the Temple Mount was Faisal Husseini, the former PLO representative in Jerusalem, who died of a heart attack in 2001. Husseini was buried at the site despite fierce opposition from some Palestinians, who said the privilege should be reserved only to devout Muslim figures. Police noted however that in Husseni's case, Palestinians received official permission to hold the funeral on the compound.
Meanwhile Thursday, police raised the level of alert following reports that Arafat may have died. Police also pulled out their day-after plan, called "A different reality," which lays out the different scenarios that may happen
after Arafat's demise. Once there is an official statement that Arafat is dead, police said, they will raise the alert to level three of four.
Hearing of the sharp deterioration in Arafat's condition, head of the Prisons Service Yaakov Ganot ordered to beef up security and raise the alert in prisons throughout the country.
Ganot instructed intelligence officers to carefully monitor the some 4,000 Palestinian security prisoners incarcerated in Israel and in the event of Arafat's death to allow them to mourn the Palestinian leader.
In March, Arafat had asked his supporters to look into burying him on the Mount. At the time, Muslim groups distributed leaflets against Arafat's plan. Referring to Arafat, the leaflet said: "We warn this wicked infidel, who married a Christian infidel, against contemplating desecrating the holy Aksa Mosque."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1099543822437&p=1006688055060
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